Freeman defends curling title

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This article was published 19/11/2024 (517 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jace Freeman’s title defence of the Sun Life Challenge from a year ago didn’t have the greatest start but ended exactly where they had hoped.

The team out of the Virden Curling Club won for the second straight year, beating Team Campbell out of Selkirk, but skipped by Brandon’s Rylan Campbell, 4-3 on Sunday after a rocky start in pool play.

Freeman and his rink of third Tim Masin, second Nick Senff and lead Luke Robins (all of Winnipeg) dropped the opening game and admitted it took some time to adjust, but once they did it was smooth sailing from there.

“It was just about figuring out the ice,” said Freeman. “We hadn’t played there yet this year, so after that we just figured out the ice well. The next four games we played quite well and I’d say almost dominated until the final. We all had really high percentages so we didn’t give the other teams much of a chance until the final.”

They needed an extra end to come away with the win in the final but never felt their title was in jeopardy.

“The final was a great game obviously and Rylan’s team (Campbell) played very well, so just figuring out the ice after the first game and finding out the tendencies and yeah we caught on quick.”

Freeman curled with Senff and Robins last year but added Masin, who moved to Winnipeg from New Brunswick, for what will be the team’s final year in juniors.

The goal was not only to win this bonspiel but also to set up the rest of the competitive season ahead.

“That was always the goal before I ended my junior career, was hoping to win this one,” Freeman added.

“Being close to home and winning that last year felt great and I think it helped us come into this year feeling loose and once we got on a roll we felt pretty good and felt confident.”

They won’t have much time to enjoy the weekend win either, as it will be a quick turnaround before the team’s next event which leads into a busy couple weeks.

They’re off to Morris to compete in the Dekalb Superspiel that starts this Thursday before coming back to Brandon to compete but separately in the U21 mixed doubles national qualifying event in two weeks.

The team also hopes that playing a variety of high competitions and in various venues sets them up for the Viterra men’s provincial championship regional qualifiers the first week of December.

It will be a busy end to 2024 with the hopes that a return trip to the provincial championship is in the cards.

Team Dundas out of the Heather Curling Club in Winnipeg won the Sun Life Junior women’s division and in another close final.

Skipped by Onanole’s Cassidy Dundas and featuring third Lauren Evason from St. Adolphe, second Eryn Czirfusz from Houston, B.C. and lead Tessa Terrick from McCreary, Man., the team finished atop their pool standings despite a round robin loss to Swan River’s Team Goethe.

In the playoff round Dundas managed to roll to the final before knocking off Team Hayward from the Carman Curling Club in another close final by a score of 7-6.

» mpackwood@brandonsun.com